Lexus luxury attacks Mercedes-Benz and BMW...who wins?

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After leading the luxury car field for 11 years, Lexus has slid behind Mercedes-Benz and BMW in no small part because of Japan earthquake-related issues last year. Now it is back with a trio of new models--LS, ES, GS--that lead with their new spindle-shaped grille.

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In many ways they are as similar as siblings, from that grille and their overall shape to their Remote Touch mouse-controlled audio-navigational systems, but the LS is decidedly the big brother.

Lexus tells us that roughly half of the LS's 6000 parts are improved and that would start with the exterior sheetmetal panels. That spindle grille adds an aggressiveness not seen in earlier Lexus models and the image flows rearward to the back, where the spindle shape reappears rather subtly, topped by a vestigial Bangle butt.

Overall the design takes the Lexus form that had become rather boring and nicely kicks it up several notches. Tech types will be impressed by the 0.26 coefficient of drag...remember when those were aero showcar numbers?

Seven To Choose From

There are seven variations on the LS theme. Start with the LS 460 on its 116.9-in. wheelbase in rear- or all-wheel drive form. Add two more possibilities with the 121.7-in long-wheelbase version and either driveline layout. The LS 600h L is the hybrid the long-wheelbase and all-wheel drive. New with this generation is an F Sport version featuring drive to the rear or all four wheels. That latter system has a center Torson limited slip differential and can vary front/rear torque split from 48:52 to 32:68.

All non-hybrid LS have an aluminum 4.6-liter, 32-valve V-8 with 386 bhp at 6400 rpm and 367 lb-ft of torque...if you have rear-wheel drive. Opt for all-wheel drive and technical considerations like rerouting the exhaust drop horsepower to 360 and torque to 347 lb-ft.

Potentially most powerful of the LS is the 600hL Hybrid. Its engine is a 5.0-liter V-8 with 389 bhp and 385 lb-ft, but factor in the power of the motor generators and it has a claimed 438 combined horsepower.

While the hybrid uses a CVT, the other LS come with an 8-speed automatic. Lexus pegs the 0-60 time at 5.4 seconds for the rear-drive versions, 5.9 with AWD, the top speed limited to 130 mph. Fuel mileage for the LS 460 is 16 city, 24 highway, all-wheel drive losing just 1 mpg on the highway.

Lexus uses a multi-link suspension design at both ends of the LS with coil springs, though air suspension is an option on the long-wheelbase 460s and standard on the F Sport and hybrid. The F Sport also rides 0.39 in. lower. The driver can set the drive systems though a variety of settings, depending on whether the car has the coil spring or air suspension. Fundamentally they vary between Eco, Comfort and Sport modes, changing anything from throttle response to shift timing to shocks to the effort of the electric power steering.

Needless to say, being a new car the LS structure is stiffer than in the past and there are added noise-dampening features from more deadening materials to aero tweaks to hollow-rim wheels.

Inside the LS - Shiatsu Massage

Now we're at the heart of what makes a Lexus a Lexus. Sitting in leather luxury, the interior around you is quiet and unassuming. Ahead are four thankfully analog gauges, to the right a 12.3-in. multimedia screen with many layers of function and information that you work through via the mouse-like haptic Remote Touch handle. We'd argue that even on its firmest setting it's a bit too easy to overshoot your target with the mouse, but it is a handy system. Better yet, for several functions Lexus gives you a manual backup so you could, for instance, just tune the radio by knob.

You can set the climate control to automatically adapt functions like air flow and temperature and, depending on which rear seat you order, to warm or cool each of the four seating positions. There's more technology in this climate system than in an entire automobile from the mid-1970s and if you opt for--not get this--the Ottoman Seating Package it comes Shiatsu massage, a Blu-ray DVD entertainment system and will do just about anything but cut your hair.

That's what Lexus is all about. Sure the LS comes with lane departure control, rear cross-traffic alert and a pre collision system that will stop the car dead still from 25 mph if its stereo camera notes an impediment...like a pedestrian, but it's attention to luxury detail that makes the difference.

Not that the Lexus LS F Sport is a paper tiger. The suspension not only sits lower but it is a bit firmer too. We strayed up a steep hilly area on a lane-and-a-half road through redwood forests south of San Francisco. It was easy to hustle the big sedan along the road, the steering direct and confident, no untoward leaning or pushing, braking quick and linear, the F Sport's V-8 sound generator kicking back the right noise that, incidentally, is absent when you're cruising on daily roads.

You won't get the rush from the F Sport that you'd get with an AMG or M, as the Lexus doesn't have their hard edge. Then again, you'll have a perfectly good time in the LS 460 F Sport and, given the common sense needed to drive quickly on public roads, you'll likely have just as much fun and might be as quick.